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Any book recommendations?

Have you read any good books lately? I just finished mine, and I'm looking for something fun to read. Any ideas?! The other day I saw a little girl reading a Roald Dahl book in a cafe, and it made me nostalgic; maybe reading the BFG would be fun. I also loved The Glass Castle and Cooking for Mr. Latte, if you want a rec!

Have you read Moonwalking With Einstein? It's a fascinating look at the place of remembering and memory in our society, and the past! Great read, and gives you lots to think about! Also, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson is a classic, just fabulously and beautiful written.

I highly recommend "The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker. It's a coming of age tale of a young girl and is set during a time when the earth begins to slow the spinning of its axis. It's beautifully written and I could not put it down.

i just picked up mwf seeking bff (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11104030-mwf-seeking-bff) about a woman's search for a new best friend... honestly, alex's NYT article about making friends is what inspired me to buy it!

definitely go for some Roald Dahl! I'm an elementary teacher and when I was in school, I had to read a lot of children's lit (much of which I somehow never read as a kid--even Charlotte's Web!) children's lit is fantastic to read as an adult, it feels like there's so much more to appreciate. one of my favorites is The Watsons Go to Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis. it's up there on my lists of favorite books, ever.

I have been reading the Outlander series all summer. Normally I don't like books like these, but I work at a bookstore and people have been asking for them a lot so I figured I would give them a try. They turned out to be super fabulous! The first book is called Outlander and the author is Diana Gabaldon. Enjoy!

i wouldn't call any of those listed "fun" books, but i do second (and third) the night circus (amazing and whimsical) and the age of miracles (thought provoking and easy to read). for fun, how about some david sedaris? i could spend hours on the beach reading his books!

For memoirs, I would recommend Home by Julie Andrews which is a memoir of her early years. Totally fascinating and humble. Jesus Land is also rawly compelling, and quite the opposite from Home. In terms of fiction, I loved The Historian. It took me a while to actually pick it up, but the fiction and historical nature mixed perfectly. So well written that sometimes I was sure Vlad Drakul was out to get me!

I recently read a book called Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. Its an autobiography! She was in kind of a terrible place in her life at the time, her mother had died a few years before, and her marriage had just ended, so at 26 she decided to hike 1100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail all by herself, and without any prior hiking experience. Its an incredibly touching book, so so special. Definitely right up there with the Glass Castle for me =) I HIGHLY recommend it!

Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Before I picked it up, I didn't think I would like it at all but I ended up loving it. My whole book club agreed it was lovely! I'm now excited to read her compilation of Dear Sugar advice columns, recently published in paperback.

Cooking for Mr. Latte is one of my very favorite books! I would recommend Ruth Reichl's first memoir Tender at the Bone if you liked Amanda Hesser's. So funny and amazing.

Do you read on an e-reader Joanna? Or are you still a paper book person?

You should read Cloud Atlas before the movie comes out - it's an amazing book, and I have a feeling the movie might make a lot more sense if you read the book first. I just read another book by the same author, The thousand autumns of Jacob deZoet, which was also great - more typical historical fiction set in Japan, instead of messing around with the novel form like Cloud Atlas.

Do you like dogs? If so, Jon Katz just released a new book called "The Story of Rose." The book is about his bearded collie named Rose who works with him in a farm he owns in upstate New York. It's a beautiful story.

I'm a huge fan of non-fiction and I just finished reading A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. It was fascinating--how beer, wine, liquor, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola shaped the history of the world.

I also recently read Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach. I initially picked it up because of the Curiosity expedition (I'm a nerd who loves a good theme) but I loved it. It's so interesting and well-written and she interviewed NASA people and had access to NASA archives.

" The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers is an excellent, heartfelt read.To quote wikipedia " It [gives] voice to the rejected, forgotten, mistreated, and oppressed." It was an Oprah's Book Club selection in '04, too!

Incendiary by Chris Cleave is amazing!!! He has a couple other books out too that are supposed to be equally as great but I have not gotten to them yet :) They actually made a movie based off the book; but the book is way better!

I adore any and all Tom Robbins books... always some kind of madcap adventure with linguistic gymnastics, rich characters, and a very healthy dose of optimistic faith in life.I just finished "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" by Haddon and it was a lovely quirky take on a murder mystery. Great summer reading.

I just finished a very interesting book called "The Book Thief", which is about a little girl in Germany during WWII. It's a very different book and very interesting with beautiful descriptions and writing.

I also recently finished "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury which is an absolutely beautiful, mesmerizing summer read.

For something lighter, I'm now reading "Paris Was Ours", a collection of essays by authors who have lived in Paris. They all offer such unique, differing perspectives.

They're quite different from his children's books, but have you ever read any of Roald Dahl's short stories for adults? Some of them are pretty weird, but they are really well written (of course) and interesting! I also loved his autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood. (There's much more to it than just the famed "mouse plot" story).

Not being an american girl, let me suggest you a great, great book by the portuguese Nobel Prize winner, José Saramago. It's called "Blindness" and there is a movie (featuring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore) based on this novel. It's my favorite book EVER and I trully believe no one should die without having the chance to read it. Yes, it is that good!...

I just read, Wild by Cheryl Strayed and loved it. I hear Gone Girl is fantastic and it's on my list. I also read Steve Jobs book and really enjoyed it. It is long, but it really shows what a genius he was.

I haven't read this yet, but next on my list is "The Receptionist: An Education At The New Yorker." It was written by a woman who was a receptionist at The New Yorker for 20 years and I think it sounds really interesting. Here's the Amazon link if you're interested!

If you've never read Paula Fox, Desperate Characters is a fantastic and fast read. Iris Murdoch is also great. The Bell is the first of hers I read, and it made me want to read everything else she wrote.

I've been all about autobiographies and memoirs this summer: What Remains by Carol Radzwill, Most Talkative by Andy Cohen, Bossy Pans by Tina Fey, and next up is Then Again by Diane Keaton. Loving all these others ideas too!

I agree that Gone Girl is fantastic, but I think Sharp Objects is Gillian Flynn's best so far. However, as another commenter said, these are definitely not "fun" reading. They are very dark and disturbing.

I also think the suggestion of The Book Thief is good. It's an intriguing book and not difficult to read.

I am reading Caitlin Moran's How to be a Woman, which is similar to Tina Fey's book, except Ms. Moran is British and a lot raunchier in many ways. It is REALLY funny. In that same vein, Mindy Kaling's book is also very funny.

I'll also give an up vote for Let the Great World Spin. I couldn't put it down!

Finally, Cutting for Stone is excellent and beautifully written. And Wally Lamb's I Know this Much is True is sometimes heartbreaking, but also wonderful. Okay, I'll stop now. Happy reading!

JOANNA!! You MUST MUST MUST read the adult stories of Roald Dahl - I work for Penguin Books and we got out hands on them last list, they are INCREDIBLE and quite naughty, but written with his brilliant wit and humor.

I think there are 3 books, here's one of the best:http://www.amazon.com/My-Uncle-Oswald-Roald-Dahl/dp/0140055770

To die for hilarious and beyond rude, you find yourself looking over your shoulder on the subway to make sure no one is reading it too!

If you haven't read it before, I can recommend my favourite book of all time, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Heartbreaking, thought-provoking and suspenseful in equal measure. Nocturnes, his more recent collection of short stories, is incredibly moving too. I've just finished wading my way through New York by Edward Rutherfurd, I learnt so much about the amazing history of the city through this, maybe you'd enjoy it too!

Currently reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. I always recommend Carol Goodman (particularly The Drowning Tree or The Lake of Dead Languages) if you're looking for something that is a "beach read" that feels weightier because she writes mysteries involving "real" literature. Love book rec posts!

I am quite nostalgic about Roald Dahl as well!Did you read OUT STEALING HORSES by Per Pertterson? I live in Norway and this book totally get the norwegian atmosphere, the nature, the slow move of time. It is not new but this is a reading I really enjoyed.

Another vote for Night Circus and The Thirteenth Tale. Also, AJ Jacobs' My Year of Living Biblically and The Know-it-All, both interesting and laugh out loud funny. Finally, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, or any of his others.

Have you read Your Voice in My Head by Emma Forrest? She's an exceptional writer. Also, I just read Chris Cleave's Gold. It certainly put me in a London Olympics mindset; the beginning is a bit slow but I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. to get through the last fifth. I couldn't put it down!

the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society. one of the best books of my life! and they are making a movie. also, just finished the pearl by steinbeck (it's a novella). very good as well. happy reading!

Planning to start reading Le Petit Prince with my 4 year old. I read it in French years ago and am looking forward to reliving the journey in English with my little prince. (Someday we'll read it together in French.)

I'm reading "Queen of the Road" by Doreen Orion. It's a pretty charming story about a husband and wife that decide to convert an old bus into a mobile home and travel cross-country. They learn a lot about their life and begin to reevaluate how they have been living. ISo far, it has been wonderful.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's set in gothic post-war Barcelona and is a very intriguing interwoven mystery about obsession in love and in literature. The author creates this amazing world where books are living forces. It has a bit of mystical realism in it too and is slightly grotesque. I couldn't put it down!

Just finished The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. Overall, I liked it. Next, I'm reading The Receptonist, a memoir written by a woman that worked at the New Yorker for 30 years as a receptionist. I'm also reading Ready Player One. I don't generally go for science fiction but I've been getting into it lately!

Have you read Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton? I really loved it and loved the style it was written in. Or Wild by Cheryl Strayed? Oh, and the BFG will always, always be one of my most favorite books!-ale

What a great comment thread! Thank you for asking this question Joanna!

I just finished Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor/staff writer on The Office)'s memoir Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and it was laugh out loud funny. I also loved Tina Fey's Bossypants.

Also reading a good one on JFK called Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, by Chris Matthews.

I'll throw in another vote for Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and since babies were on topic recently, Birth Matters by Ina May Gaskin is an absolutely wonderful resource (but as an aspiring midwife I might be a bit biased ;).

The Time Travelers Wife is my favorite book, but I'd also recommend Anna Karenina if you're looking for a classic, Austerlitz by WG Sebald for something beautiful and haunting, or a Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson for something utterly hilarious.

"The Innocent Anthropologist : Notes from a Mud Hut" byNigel Barley is the funniest book i have ever read. I read it every summer and it makes me laugh out loud every time. It's a true story about an anthropologist who goes to a small tribe in West Africa to do fieldwork, and everything goes wrong. The concept is a bit hard to sell I guess, but trust me, it's SO funny!

Tana French has a new book out Broken Arrow. I've loved all of her past books so eager to read this one. I'm also going through Anne Patchett right now, Bel Canto, State of Wonder and the Patron state of liars are all good.

I actually decided to spend the entire summer reading only kids books! I was so tired of reading morose pretentious adult lit, and its been amazingly satisfying to immerse myself in books aimed at 10-18 yr olds. You instantly get sucked into the stories but they are beautiful written and full of a wonderful mixture of sadness, joy and hilarity. I've read everything from the classics, like The Westing Game, to the more recent Mysterious Benedict Society. Amazing fun!

all my friends are superheros http://www.amazon.com/All-My-Friends-Are-Superheroes/dp/1552451305/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344354956&sr=1-1&keywords=all+my+friends+are+superheroesandwonderhttp://www.amazon.com/Wonder-R-J-Palacio/dp/0375869026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344354989&sr=1-1&keywords=wondertwo amazingly written, inspirational and thought provoking stories. i hope that you get the chance to read them...

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson is a hilarious memoir, Blankets is a beautiful graphic novel, anything by Mary Roach is funny and educational, On Writing by Stephen King is a great memoir/writing guide, and Cyrano de Bergerac is a beautiful play. Have fun reading! :) Also, if you're not on Goodreads, you should check it out. It's like Pandora for books. It's awesome.

Roald Dahl's Kiss Kiss is a must. It is adult fiction so be prepared. Some captivating historical fiction that I would recommend: The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin.

Oh girl. My lit major college days might be over but I'm still the queen of book recommendations. For something romantic and touching, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. For historical fiction, Cold Mountain. For you as a Michigan girl, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eudenides (just finished it -- fabulous!). For just damn good literature, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. For something cute, When in Rome... by Gemma Townley (favorite British chick-lit author). Happy reading! xo

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand was a lovely, Jane Austen-y novel that swept me away, as did the new Ann Patchett, State of Wonder, a really nicely done and summery read about seeking the magical fertility drug in the Amazon. Another gorgeous one was The Buddha in the Attic, really just the most incredibly poetic and well written masterful little novel. Cutting for Stone was the most sweep-me-away of them all, methinks. My taste is good story and good writing--you can have an easy read without being trashy!

I loved the book City of Thieves by David Benioff, a quick read. I am currently reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and am enjoying it. I have recently finished some of the Jo Nesbo books, also great.

just joined www.goodreads.com and it is fabulous - you rate books, get recommendations, see what your friends are reading, etc. check it out!!i just finished water for elephants...now to see the movie!

Have you read Bloom by Kelle Hampton? It's a ny times best seller. It's about her daughter's first year with down syndrome. She didn't know Nella would have DS until she born. She is the woman behind the amazing blog Enjoying the Small Things (www.kellehampton.com). I had read her blog, and thought that the book would be similar, but it was so much more in depth and so touching. I don't even have kids, but I was weeping at how beautiful the book and her story is. Check it out!

i'm reading the girl with the dragon tattoo, i know its a bit behind the trend but i am really enjoying it! after i've finished the trilogy i will read cloud atlas.

as for kids books, i try to read 'alice in wonderland' once a year or so, just to remind myself of all that imagination. recently i acquired a full box set of the Chronicles of Narnia, which I have never read, so I am looking forward to reading those children's classics at some point.

One of my favorite recent reads was The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. There were parts that made me laugh so hard I cried, and parts that just plain made me cry. You might not like the main character, Golden, but wait until you get to Rusty. He's the funniest kid in the world!A couple of other good books are The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, and Little, Big by John Crowley.

ANY of Anna Quindlen’s books (“Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake”) or Elizabeth Berg (love them all, but started with "The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation” and became obsessed with her books (new to me author). “The Good Father” Noah Hawley, "The Red Book” (hysterical but “true”) by Kogan, Deborah Copaken; "Paris Without End: The True Story of Hemingway's First Wife" by Diliberto, Gioiaand “The Secret Life of Bees” (especially if you loved “The Help”) by Kidd, Sue Monk; "An Available Man” by Wolitzer, Hilma (her other books are good too!)DEFINITE one all time favorites is “The Elegance of a Hedgehog” (movie too!)

I noticed a lot of people mentioning the night circus but I actually had a terrible time reading that book. I thought it was very slow and didn't keep my attention. I'm cant decide what to read next either because I have 3 books waiting on me: mockingjay, let's pretend this never happened, and a bio of Marilyn Monroe!!!

I really liked the books by Nicole Krauss. All three of them are good reading :)Or maybe "Life of Pie" by Yann Martel. And recently I got into the "Game of Throne" (George R. R. Martin) books, even though I'm not into fantasy. It's just that if you start liking Game of thrones, you gotta read all the other ones as well :/

This morning I am reading "the start-up of YOU" by Reid Hoffman (cofounder and chairman of LinkedIn) and Ben Casnocha. I am reading it for work and pleasure. The entrepreneur spirit in you will enjoy it!

Have you brushed up on your Canadian Lit lately? There are some really fantastic novels out: The Sisters Brothers, Half-Blood Blues, and The Cat's Table are all recent reads of mine and so so good. I bet Alex would really like The Sisters Brothers, too!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a young adult novel narrated by death during Nazis Germany. It's a charming and quirky book. Home by Marilyn Robinson is one of my latest favorites. Poignant and beautifully written.

If you have ever read Girl with a Pearl Earring, it is a similar concept. It is about 1920s Art Deco painter Tamara de Limpicka, and the whole art scene in Paris at that time and the fictitious (or is it?) story behind one of her most famous paintings. Quick chapters (so easy to read before bed, if you tend to fall asleep like I do) and so scandalous...

I'm reading the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubenstein and am loving it! It's a bit like Eat, Pray, Love except about how to maximize happiness. It has a lot of good goals, rules to being happy, and research on what makes people happiest. Just wish I had read it sooner!

Just finished Left Neglected by Lisa Genova (author of Still Alice, another great book). A wonderful story about how the life of a very driven career women changes after a traumatic brain injury. And a very quick read!

I recently read Unbroken (true story of a WWII POW survivor) - amazing! My husband also just finished it and loved it so great for men or women to read. Also read Little Bee, story of a Nigerian refugee which was a moving read. And now I'm in the middle of Gone Girl, can't put it down, great thriller/mystery!

I love, love, love engrossing books with well developed characters. My favorites this summer have been House of Prayer #2 by Mark Richards, a wrenchingly poignant memoir by this author of coming of age as disabled in the South; The Floor of Heaven, the true story of the Klondike Gold Rush by Howard Blum--a thrilling, true life crazier than fiction, tall tale, adventure of the Old West and Gold rush. Also loved "The Coal Tattoo" by Silas House, about 2 sisters in Applachia Kentucky, very moving about sisterhood. Currently reading "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand and it's awesome...Happy Reading!!

Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches (and the sequel, Shadow of Night) is fantastic! Also, if you like crime/mystery, I really enjoy Camilla Lackberg. The first one of her series is The Ice Princess. You can only get the first three in the states, but more translations are available in the UK.